This invention relates generally to a delivery system for medical devices such as stents. More particularly, the invention relates to a loading basket for a stent delivery system and methods of manufacturing the loading basket.
Medical devices such as stents and other intraluminary prostheses are used in the repair and/or treatment of diseases in various body vessels. A stent is generally a longitudinal tubular device formed of biocompatible materials useful to open and support various lumens in the body. For example, stents may be used in bodily vessels, such as the coronary or peripheral vasculature, esophagus, trachea, bronchi, colon, biliary tract, urinary tract, prostate, brain, and other vessels. These devices are implanted within the vessel to open and/or reinforce collapsing or partially occluded sections of the lumen. Stents radially expand to support and reinforce the bodily vessel, and can be self-expanding and/or or mechanically expandable using balloons and other means to expand the stent.
The stent delivery system typically includes a catheter assembly to properly position the stent in the vessel and deploy the stent. The catheter assembly retains the stent in a radially compressed configuration while the stent is advanced to the desired location in the vessel, and then allows the stent to radially expand. The catheter assembly may include balloons, sheaths, and other structures used to maintain the stent in a radially compressed configuration and radially expand the stent during deployment.
Although stent delivery systems are well-known in the art, the assembly of such delivery systems is often complicated. In some instances, stents are loaded by a practitioner into the stent delivery system shortly before being implanted in a patient. However, this loading process often involves numerous steps and requires the use of multiple tools and fixtures that are not part of the stent delivery system. The practitioner is often required to finish the loading process by pushing the stent into the delivery system by hand. It is important that the stent be loaded at the proper position on the catheter to ensure proper deployment and expansion of the stent.
As described in co-owned US Pat. Publication No. 2009/0192518, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, stent delivery systems sometimes use a loading basket secured to a portion of a delivery device.
The art referred to and/or described above is not intended to constitute an admission that any patent, publication or other information referred to herein is “prior art” with respect to this invention. All U.S. patents and applications and all other published documents mentioned anywhere in this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.